The world as we all knew it has changed. It always does. The world is constantly changing. Not always for good, but always changing, nevertheless. Ask your grandparents or your parents about what life was like when they were kids. Think back to when you were a kid. How much has changed in just a few short years?
I was born in the ‘60’s. My formative years were the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. I have very fond memories of what my life was like during that time. But so many of the things that were “trendy” then are relics of the past now and kids today don’t even know what they are. Now, I’m not that old but I’ve seen toys that I used to play with on shelves in antique stores! Really? Antiques? I prefer vintage but whatever.
You all know what I’m talking about: party-line phones; 8-track tapes; manual typewriters; analog television in – gasp – black and white with – gasp – no remote control. How did we survive in such rustic times? We all have those things we remember from our childhood that are sadly, gone today.
It’s not only “things” that have vanished, but skills as well. Things like map-reading. Nobody knows how to read a map anymore. Why? Because everyone uses GPS or some electronic app on their smart device that tells them how far to go before they turn right or left. Hand-in-hand with that, very few people know north from south, east from west. That’s an important thing to know because when someone asks you if they need to turn left or right, you need to know which direction they’re traveling before you can answer correctly. But, if you ask someone which direction they’re going, they won’t know. They’ll have no idea which direction they are traveling. It’s a lost skill.
Being able to make change in your head is another talent that is beyond comprehension to today’s youth. If you are going to pay cash for something and it comes to $12.77 and you hand them a twenty and two pennies they’ll hand the pennies back to you. They have no idea why you gave them two cents. If you try to explain it to them, they look at you like you’re from outer space. And counting back change, like I had to do when I worked retail, is simply not done anywhere anymore by anyone. Period. Someone just punches some numbers on a machine and hands you back a wad of bills and coins. They have no idea how to count that money back. Another lost skill.
Proper spelling and punctuation is probably never going to be correct again. So many people today text and talk in incomplete sentences and words. C U later or TTYL or any other combination of letters is a common means of communicating nowadays. Even phonetically I can’t understand some of these messages. Some tweets on Twitter are so far beyond me I just scroll on by. And don’t even get me started on the emojis. If I send a text to someone and they respond with a string of emojis, I will CALL them, yes, C A L L them and ask them to explain to me – with their voice – what the hell that mess was they texted me. Flowers and palm trees and people making faces. What is that all about? Stop it already. Good grammar, heck even bad grammar, has gone the way of the Edsel. It’s pretty much just letters and pictures nowadays. Like cave paintings, we have to try to decipher what someone is saying. What have we evolved into? So much for progress I guess.
Memorizing phone numbers seems to be another lost art. Remember when you had to actually memorize all the phone numbers of your friends if you wanted to call them. I’m not talking about phone books either (it’s almost impossible to find an actual phone book these days), I’m talking about committing the numbers to memory so that you could dial – yes dial on the rotary phone – the friend you wanted to talk to. Well, not anymore. Now, you just punch your digits on someone’s smart device and, bam, there you go, you’ve been “memorized.” If I ask someone for a phone number these days, the first thing they’ll do is whip out their phone. It’s convenient, but a total waste of brain power. Go the extra mile folks and memorize a number or two. Heaven forbid y’all should lose your phones.
Do it yourself automotive care. Remember that? Remember when people used to change their own oil in their cars; put in a new air filter or give that sweet ride of theirs a tune-up? Nobody does this anymore. Cars are so doggone complicated now you’re lucky if you can even find where to add the windshield washer fluid. These drive-in oil change places are nifty and everything but being able to do it yourself is something for the history books now. Which ties in with my next point, changing your own tire. Nobody even tries to change a flat tire anymore, they just call the roadside service people and wait for the tow truck to change it for them. When I was a young lady about to embark on my first experience as a responsible driver, my dad made sure I knew how to change a flat tire, jump a dead battery, change my own oil, and top off all the necessary fluids. He said part of being a responsible driver is being responsible for your vehicle. I don’t think dads give this advice to their kids anymore. And, that is sad.
And, my final observation is that kids these days don’t learn how to tie shoes. Why? Because shoes don’t come with laces anymore. Kids’ shoes in particular are all Velcro now. Or just slip-ons. Even adult shoes have Velcro straps or are slip-on in nature. Oh sure, some have faux laces as decoration, but they serve no actual function. What happened to learning how to tie your own shoes? Remember how you felt like such a big girl/boy when you mastered this skill all on your own? Today’s children will never know the sense of accomplishment that brings. Teach you kids how to tie their shoes already.
So that’s it for this week. My melancholy walk down memory lane, reminiscing about all the things I learned as a kid that no longer seem important. What about you guys, any lost skills you miss? Did you learn anything as a child that children today will never be taught? Come on, let’s all reminisce, together shall we?
Word of the Day: Fascicle
Fun fact about me: When I bought my used Mercedes it came with one of those funky “little” spare tires, a jack and – wait for it – a pair of white gloves to wear so you couldn’t mess up your manicure while changing the tire.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, April 2021. Images by Google and giphy.com
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jansenschmidt 
Patricia – there is something to be said for the ‘good old days.’ Every generation laments the passing of their time and believe it our not our time has passed to be influencers and be influenced… when I watch commercials today I wonder…. but they aren’t trying to get me, but someone who hasn’t made up their kind. What I find funny is watching the national news at 5:30 and the commercials that are I then – geared for people who are a few years older than me. Yeah there are skills that this generation will miss, but they are learning skills we didn’t learn until we were adults. We need to let them be kids and explore and learn. It’s all good. Stay safe and week and peace to you and Corey!
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I rarely “watch” TV commercials these days. We record almost every network show we watch and DVR it back later and fast forward all of the commercials. I am NEVER influenced to buy anything from a television commercial. I don’t even really understand why we still have them except for the big business exchange of money issue. And so many people have Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime these days, I’ll bet regular old-fashioned network television is the next thing to disappear altogether. Streaming services are the trend of the future. Everything will be subscription based. Then the marketing companies will have a struggle to break into those markets.
But, anyway, that’s just my opinion. I think kids are even less influenced by television than they are by computers and things like YouTube of TikTok. Again, just my opinion. When I talk to my nieces and nephews, they have rarely even heard of any of the shows we watch on television. They watch everything on a streaming service.
Like I said, times are changing. Often for the better, but sometimes, I think we’re digressing. Or perhaps, I’m just getting old.
Have a wonderful week.
Patricia
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WOW! Never thought about that angle – commercials that is. If there is anything that is constant in our world it is CHANGE. Take care – stay happy and safe. Peace.
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I don’t miss party lines, or rotary dial phones, and especially having to go to the library to do research. But I love maps, whether paper or digital. Another thing to add to your list of disappearing skills: cursive writing. I think many (most?) schools have stopped teaching it – they were leaning that way 10-20 years ago when my daughter was in school. Sad when people won’t be able to parse historical documents – or the note in that birthday card from Grandma.
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I agree with you on the cursive writing. In fact, even punctuation or the use of capital letters is disappearing. I get a lot of people who make on-line reservations here at the inn and nothing is capitalized, even their names. It drives my inner editor bonkers. I always change it on the in-take forms because it literally makes my head hurt to see it in there wrong.
I will admit that a lot of things are so much easier now, line on-line research, but it’s also much harder to determine whether or not it’s “real” or “truthful.” I think most folks used to trust that if it was in research books or the printed encyclopedia, it was factual. Not so these days. So . . . easier, but is it?
Thanks for joining the conversation. Always nice to hear other peoples’ thoughts on my crazy ramblings. Have a great week.
Patricia
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I can’t even tell you how many times when I’ve asked for a return phone number, people seem shocked that we don’t have caller ID and then have to look up their own number. The world is becoming increasingly dependent on technology, not that I don’t appreciate so many aspects of today’s technology! And I’m (sadly) one of those people who have trouble with north, south, east and west. I can usually figure it out, but it takes me a few…and if the sun is hiding, I’m out of luck. 🙂
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My home phone land line (the inn phone) has caller id, but as soon as I answer it, the number disappears so I’m always asking people their number. A lot of them say, “it’s this number,” or “the number I’m calling you from.” When I tell them I can’t see it, they seem confused. You’re right – they don’t even know their own number. So weird. (At least in my opinion.)
A lot of people are direction challenged. But what’s amazing to me is that if you try to help them figure it out, they get so defensive. Like they truly just have no clue. Some cities are easier than others; like here in Vicksburg if you know where the river is, you always know which way is west. But some people know where the river is, and that if that’s west, they still don’t know which direction to go to go north. It just makes absolutely no sense to people. I guess it’s one of those things you either get or you don’t.
Thanks for visiting today. I hope you had a lovely Easter holiday and that the rest of the week is stress free and easy breezy.
Patricia
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😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
(You have my phone number, right?)
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Your digits are on my device. Right after I slip on my shoes and check my Instrgram I’ll look it up in case you need it.
Thanks for posting you goofball. Always glad 2 C U.
Patricia
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